April 14, 2010
Live Stats:
Doubleheader at Saint Francis (Pa.) - Thursday, April 15 (3 p.m.)
Game 1 vs. Colgate - Saturday, April 17 (12 p.m.) 
Game 2 vs. Colgate - Saturday, April 17
Game 1 vs. Colgate - Sunday, April 18 (12 p.m.)
Game 2 vs. Colgate - Sunday, April 18
LEWISBURG, Pa. – Bucknell softball has six more games on the docket for this week, leading off with a doubleheader at Saint Francis (Pa.) at 3 p.m. on Thursday in Loretto, Pa. The Bison will then return home for a four-game series with Colgate this weekend. Patriot League action at the Bucknell Softball Field begins at 12 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday. Live stats will be available for all six games.
Although Bucknell (15-11, 5-3) is tied for second and Colgate has dropped to fifth in the league standings after the first two weekends of Patriot League play, both teams have posted some impressive numbers. The Bison and the Raiders rank in the league's top two in batting average, slugging percentage, on base percentage and sacrifice bunts. Defensively, they are also the leaders in opponent batting average, fewest hits allowed, fewest earned runs allowed and fewest walks allowed.
ABOUT THE BISON
Bucknell finished last week with a 5-1 record. It opened the stretch with a four-game winning streak that included a sweep over Mount St. Mary's and the first doubleheader at Lafayette. Shelly McCormack (Humble, Texas/Kingwood) and Alison Ford (Suisun City, Calif./Fairfield) each hit .500 (9-18) on the week to lead the Bison offensively.
Six Bison are hitting .300 or better through the team's first 25 games this season. McCormack leads the group at .424, and she is joined on the list by Lauren Fry (South Plainfield, N.J./South Plainfield), Ford, Sherry Finkel (Morgantown, W. Va./University), Mary Pavlovich (Johnstown, Pa./Richland) and Mary Horton (Plantation, Fla./St. Thomas Aquinas).
In addition to her .424 batting average this year, McCormack is tied with Finkel for the team lead in doubles with seven and has tallied 14 runs batted in. That is a significant improvement over past years for the senior. Prior to this season, McCormack's career batting average sat at .179, and she had recorded five doubles and three RBI.
Including McCormack, eight Bison are batting better than their career average. Joining McCormack in the accomplishment are Fry, Ford, Kara Sullivan (Wading River, N.Y./Shoreham-Wading River), Finkel, Pavlovich, Sam Rollandi (San Carlos, Calif./Notre Dame Belmont) and Alicia Wheeler (Scottsdale, Ariz./Paradise Valley).
McCormack and Pavlovich are both working eight-game hitting streaks. The duo began the stretch in the third game of the Holy Cross series on April 4.
After getting off to a bit of a slow start, Alex MacLean (Northampton, Pa./Northampton Area) has really started to heat up since the start of league play. The freshman pitcher has won each of her last three starts, bringing her record to 5-1, and recorded her first career shutout in Bucknell's 8-0 win at Mount St. Mary's on April 6. In three appearances last week, MacLean was 3-0 with a 0.82 ERA and held opponents to just .200 hitting.
Jane Messersmith (Costa Mesa, Calif./Newport Harbor) earned her first career save last week. The sophomore helped give Bucknell a 6-5 victory in the first game at Lafayette.
Fry recently moved onto her first career top-10 list at Bucknell. The junior scored seven runs last week, giving her 75 in her career and tying her for eighth place with former teammate Ashley Beans. She is also quickly approaching a pair of single-season top-10 marks. Three more runs will tie her for 10th, while one more walk will move her into a tie for eighth at Bucknell.
Pavlovich continues to move up the record lists as well. The senior is now fifth in career doubles with 31 and seventh in career runs scored with 80. Pavlovich will likely move into the top-10 in career games played this week, needing just three more appearances to tie for ninth at 165.
ABOUT THE RED FLASH
Saint Francis enters the week 9-26 with a doubleheader scheduled for Wednesday before hosting the Bison. The Red Flash have lost nine straight games and 12 of their last 13, including doubleheader sweeps at the hands of Quinnipiac, Sacred Heart, Robert Morris and Pittsburgh.
Taylor Darnielle leads the team at the plate, batting .293 (29-99) this spring. Saint Francis is hitting just .221 as a team. Megan Layne earned a spot as the Red Flash's top pitcher with a 3.24 ERA and 7-15 record. Layne has tallied 18 complete games while pitching 151.1 of her team's 227.1 innings this year.
Saint Francis was 21-30 overall a year ago but has lost much of its power from that squad. Kelly Slingwine and Nicole Waligora, both 2009 Second Team All-Northeast Conference selections, hit better than .330, and Laura Caldwell was team-leading 10-14 with a 3.46 ERA in the circle. All three of those players have graduated.
Bucknell leads in the all-time series with Saint Francis, 19-14. The teams split their doubleheader last season. The Red Flash won the opener 7-1, while the Bison claimed the 6-3 win in the nightcap. Bucknell's lone run in the first game came in the bottom of the seventh inning on a home run from Beans, but Jessie Snyder (Tacoma, Wash./Stadium) was the star of game two. Bucknell posted a five-run fourth inning with the help of a bases-loaded triple from Snyder.
ABOUT THE RAIDERS
Colgate is 20-10 overall and 3-5 in the Patriot League heading into the new week. The Raiders will play Siena on Wednesday before traveling to Lewisburg. Colgate had a bit of a rocky start to its Patriot League season, dropping the first three games to Lehigh before winning the finale 2-1. Every game of the series was decided by a single run. Week two ended in a 2-2 split with Holy Cross.
The Raiders are hitting .319 as a team, led by Stephanie Hartquist (.451), Alana Dyson (.350) and Jennifer Ortega (.348). Hartquist shares the team lead in RBI with 27, while Ortega has a squad-best five home runs.
Colgate also boasts two of the top pitchers in the league in Michelle Hollebeke and Jesse McCarrick. Hollebeke enters the week with a 1.90 ERA and McCarrick is at 2.77, ranking them first and second in the league, respectively. Hollebeke, who is 10-6 on the season, is also first in opponent batting average (.225).
The Raiders finished last season at 25-18 overall and 8-6 in the Patriot League. Eight players hit better than .300, but only three of them return in 2010. Colgate also had six players named All-Patriot League. Of the Raiders on that list, only McCarrick and Hartquist are back for another season.
The all-time series between Colgate and Bucknell is knotted up at 38 wins apiece. Although the Raiders swept the Bison in the 2009 regular-season series, Bucknell had the last laugh. Bucknell won 7-3 when the teams met in the first game of the Patriot League Tournament, led by Snyder who hit 3-for-4 with two doubles and a triple in the contest.
LOOKING AHEAD
Bucknell will stay at home for its next series, hosting La Salle for a 3 p.m. doubleheader on Wednesday, April 21. The Bison will have just one more home series after taking on the Explorers. The final opportunity to see Bucknell on its home field will come in the regular-season finale, a four-game tilt with Army May 1-2.
